Chapter 56: The Shift In Power
Sliding through the air, Ichigo's black cloths twisted in the sky as he brought himself to a stop. 'Even using my Bankai, isn't enough.' Down on the ground, the Void Warrior Shen left behind, pulled back its arm, holding its sword. 'It's going to do that thing again!' Positioning his Zanpakuto to his left, the Void Warrior swung its sword forward while its arm extended towards Ichigo.
The sword extended perfectly lining up with the momentum it had to hit Ichigo from his left. Thanks to his quick reactions Ichigo didn't get hit directly, but still, as the swords grinded against one another, Ichigo felt himself being pushed through the air as he tried to overpower the Void Warriors strength.
"Ugh Dam!" Like a fly that had been swatted, Ichigo couldn't hold his ground as he was knocked out the air. Plummeting towards the now destroyed downtown area, Ichigo flew into straight through three buildings before hitting the ground. Retracting its arm, the Void Warrior began to dash through the destroyed town towards were Ichigo crashed.
As the Void Warrior got, closer black and red Reiatsu began to twist and turn in every direction. As the smoke cleared, Ichigo could be seen holding Tensa Zangetsu as this sinister-looking Reiatsu continued to build as he raised its blade. "Getsuga! Tenshou!" Releasing a Getsuga Tenshou towards the direction of the Void Warrior, an over-arcing slash began to tower over the town along with its buildings.
Destroying all in its way, Ichigo didn't stop pouring his power into attack as he kept pushing forward. Facing this apparent threat, the Void Warrior raised his holding it in front of its body with two hands. At the Getsuga Tenshou got closer, the Void Warrior let lose a slash using its sword clashing with the black and red slash towering over it.
However, even though the Getsuga Tenshou had power, the sword of the Void Warrior was specially made by Shen. It sent all attacks it touched straight to his dimension where they would disperse or be lost forever, and Getsuga Tenshou was no exception. "Haaaa!" Pushing more and more power into his attack Ichigo was still not gaining any ground as the Void Warriors sword continued to absorb Getsuga Tenshou.
As the Getsuga Tenshou began to shrink into the sword's blade, Ichigo had no choice but to stop. 'Even after all that, all I did was waste energy. If attacks like Getsuga Tenshou won't work, I'll have to rely on my Bankai's speed.' As the final traces of Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshou were absorbed, he began his assault, getting in close before releasing a barrage of slashes.
Although his Bankai was indeed strong, its real strength was its speed. Facing Ichigo's attacks, the Void Warrior had a hard time countering every last one of them as the two of them continued to clash throughout the town, causing even more destruction Ichigo began changing his style of fighting.
Gathering his Reiatsu into his blade, Ichigo struck began to get heavier as an explosion of Ichigo's spiritual pressure swept over the ground every time their blades clashed. Using Getsuga Tenshou to enhance each one of his strikes, Ichigo, even with the sword absorbing his Reaitsu, it increased the amount of power behind each blow.
'I haven't been able to test this out much during training, but with this, I can win!' "Haaaaaaaaaagh!" Pushing the Void Warrior back, the two of them begin to scrape over the ground, with Ichigo being on the winning side of the struggle. After pushing the Void Warrior back, Ichigo let loose another burst of power, causing sending the VoidWarrior flying back as Ichigo's blade was free to hit the ground creating a massive collum for debris.
Flying over the ground, the Void Warrior quickly maneuvered its body, landing on the ground morphing its two legs and arm so they would stick into the ground as he stopped himself. Staring straight ahead, Ichigo felt confident he could win as a smile appeared on his face. 'I should try to end this with the next strike. I don't think the town will be able to take much of this, and Uryu is still in trouble.'
Thinking of Uryu Ichigo's eyes couldn't help but shift their target from the Void Warrior to the direction of Uryu. However, in those seconds where Ichigo took his eyes off the Void Warrior, something began to change. Slowly a portal opened up under the Void Warriors body chunks of the void began to stretch out and sticking to his body.
The Void Warriors body was already a light black, including his armored like appearance, however, as the void began to sink into his being, his entire body began to turn an even darker tone of black. As the void thoroughly covered his body morphing to his shape, the portal under his feet began to close. 'I shouldn't get distracted during a fight Uryu is tough hell be fine.'
Shaking his head, Ichigo put his attention back on the Void Warrior only to see the edge of a blade in front of his face. Without Ichigo noticing, the Void Warrior had already moved in front of him. At this moment, all Ichigo could do was watch as the blade began to get closer.
However, just as the blade was about to reach his head, it forcefully stopped. As if time felt to speed back up for Ichigo, a shockwave flew by his face as any buildings behind him that were damaged fell toppled over. With sweat dripping down his face, Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw someone standing next to him. "I would appreciate it if you if you didn't kill my son."
Meanwhile, back in the Soul Society, Shen had finished trapping Byakuya and his Zanpakuto in Ki Orbs he made them follow behind him. After resting for a moment, Rukia sheathed her Zanpakuto while staring at her unconscious brother suspended in the orb. "Rukia, can you sense where the other captains are?"
Leaving her daze, she turned to Shen before replying. "Every captain in the Gotei 13 seems to be gathered their excluding the two we have." Listening to Rukia Shen had to admit being able to sense Reiatsu sounded so useful. 'Good things come to those who wait. Every captain would have to include Soi Fon, so that means she has probably recovered.' As Shen thought to himself, he heard Rukia speak up.
"Wait. It feels like Captain Aizen, Captain Gin, and Captain Tosen arent there." This immediately got Shen's attention. "Oh?" The fact those three were missing meant one thing, which was evident to Shen. 'They must have left to Hueco Mundo secretly as they planned originally. Though I do doubt Aizen plans to let, I hold on to Rukia forever.'
"Well, for now, that only makes things easier for us. With three captains gone and two captured, there are only eight more to worry about. Speaking of which, I guess I won't be needing those things anymore." Activating his Mangekyou Sharingan Shen, something began to happen to every single Void Creature in the Seireitei.
As Soul Reapers continued to hold off the creatures all over the creatures began to melt. Each one would fall apart, turning into a strange-looking substance as an empty abyss opened under their bodies. As a Soul Reaper who was locked in combat with one of the creatures witnessed this up close, he couldn't help but say. "Did... Did we win?"
Although they didn't dare say it without it being confirmed, the idea of this battle being over was a blessing in disguise. They had seen so many of their comrades die up to this point, and their Reiatsu was spent. Even if the battle wasn't over, it gave each one of them a much-deserved rest.
"Well, since I already have all of this gathered, I might as well put it to good use." Deactivating his Mangekyou Sharingan, Shen spoke to Rukia. "When we arrive, I advise you to stand back, or else you will die." Even though she beat Byakuya, having the Hogyoku fight in a battle against eight captains was less than Ideal for Shen.
"This is where the real fight begins after all."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Aizen_Dleitch
Aizen_Dleitch So that's why the Void Warrior that was fighting Ichigo got a power boost! I wonder how the son and dad duo will deal with this powered-up enemy, and how what is Shen's plan to deal with the Captains and, most importantly, the Head Captain?
I hope you enjoyed this chapter even though I fell asleep like two times while making it due to binge-watching Netflix. (I should have been studying ;-;)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone